The Satellite Amateur Radio Club at Vandenberg will be having its annual swap meet and BBQ on Saturday, 20 June 2015, the weekend before Father’s Day. The swap meet will start at 8 am.
Many south coast hams get together at Ellen’s Danish Pancake House at 272 Avenue of the Flags in Buellton around 6:45 am for breakfast the day of the event.
Please check out http://www.satellitearc.com for more information.
Antenna tuner wanted. Will pay according to its value. 300 watts is fine.
Contact Ken – KA6KEN at 805-685-2030 or ka6ken@alker.net
Last evening (May 5th) we were introduced to digital mode software that is used for emergency communications during the ATV Digital Modes Net . While digital emergency communications use essentially the same types of software and protocols as popular digital modes, additional software is used in emergencies when it is necessary to send specially formatted information and when accuracy is vitally important. The official name for this is NBEMS, or Narrow Band Emergency Communications Software. Many amateur radio operators involved in everyday digital HF communications are also proficient with NBEMS as well. It is a good skill to have, and it is not just limited to HF. Many times 6m, 2m and 440 FM are used for NBEMS as well.
ARRL Radiogram
Last night we focused on the most familiar of these formats, the ARRL Radiogram. If you took your technician test in recent years, you were probably introduced to the radiogram and how it is used. If you don’t remember it, that’s okay, because hardly anyone actually knows how to send or receive one. You send it from one station to other stations monitoring the frequency. What they receive actually looks like a regular telegram! It can be printed and delivered, or the recipient can follow the instructions requested by the sender.
So how is a radiogram used? Let’s say there was a major earthquake and Santa Barbara was cut off from normal landline and cellular communications. How would you let friends or relatives know you were okay? Well, you could get on HF if you have that capability and try and contact another ham somewhere and ask him to relay the information to someone for you. Hopefully the other operator will get the information right the first time, because it entirely possible you won’t be able to contact that same operator again. But what if you could send the equivalent of a telegram? Then you would be assured that phone numbers, addresses, whatever information you need to pass would be sent with 100% accuracy and the message relayed to your friends or family. This is the purpose of a radiogram.
Emergency communications are important. At least a few people in Santa Barbara should know how to send radiograms and use the other emergency message protocols. In an emergency there may be a need to send accurate data to a distant location and have confidence that it will arrive where it is intended. If this interests you, check out the ARRL website for more information, and tune in to future ATV Digital Modes Nets on Tuesday evenings at 8:00 pm and listen in on our discussion. Or better yet, check in and learn how to participate!
A sale of donated test equipment and other misc. equipment will take place on Saturday, May 9 between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. The sale will include oscilloscopes, audio test equipment, and other misc. items from the 50’s through 70’s. The sale will take place in Goleta at the 907 South Kellogg where the Sunday Swap Meet is held. All proceeds will benefit SBARC.
Help is also needed to load and unload items, so if you can spare a little time to help out, please contact Dave – K9KBX at 805-896-8823.
Post expires at 1:00am on Sunday May 10th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.
Yet another successful net last Thursday night (4/23/15) with 11 check-ins plus net control (K6HWN). The net began with Jim (KK6SXB) asking if and how he could interface his HT with his computer. It seems that Jim has been having trouble de-linking the 224.08 repeater with his Wouxun HT and was thinking of a work around that might work. Brian (K6BPM) had a couple of ideas and I suggested purchasing a 1.25 M mobile radio with more power and using it as a base station from home. You can review the audio here.
Next Garrett (KJ6RQ) wondered if there antennas or if you can design ones to radiate a certain way depending on terrain, propagation, etc. Shackmaster Dave (K6HWN) started the ball rolling explaining general classifications of VHF antennas in that they are almost always omnidirectional (horizontally) or directional as in your classic Yagi. The conversation evolved into types of antennas and how the number of wavelengths effect the gain of the antenna, antenna modeling, etc. You can review the audio here.
Tune in to the SBARC Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net next Thursday at 0800 and see what interesting questions will arise or ask some of your own! All club members and visitors are encouraged to check in to the Technical Mentoring and Elmering net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.
Equipment of all sorts are available for loan or rent.
Contact Darryl, KF6DI, kf6di@sbarc.org or by phone at 805 969 2326.,
The bi-annual SSB Nets Breakfast will be held Cody’s on June 6th 0800 to 10000 in the north room. Any ham is welcome to attend this breakfast, but mostly this event is for regular check-ins to the Six meter or Two meter SSB nets.
No RSVP needed, and door prizes are possible. Please bring your junque for door prizes.
This is a “buy your own breakfast” event !!!
Post expires at 10:00am on Saturday June 6th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.
